New Delhi: The central committee of the CPI(M) on Sunday condemned the action of police against journalists across the country and said that they have been “targeted” because of their “truthful” reporting of the events related to the three farm laws.
Journalist Mandeep Punia was arrested from the Singhu border on Sunday for allegedly misbehaving with the police personnel on duty at the farmers’ protest site there, officials said.
A case was registered against him and he has been arrested now, a senior police officer said, a day after the scribe was detained.
“The BJP through its state governments in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka and in Delhi, where the police is under the Union Home Ministry, has intensified attacks against those journalists who have been reporting truthfully the events connected with the farmers’ protests. Such efforts to intimidate and terrorise journalists has been going on for some time under the BJP administrations in many cases.
“But since January 28, FIRs have been filed against nine Indian journalists on charges of sedition and nine other provisions of law, including promoting communal disharmony, insulting religious beliefs, assertions prejudicial to national integration etc. Reputed senior journalists have been slapped with these charges on the basis of their personal tweets on social media. This is reprehensible and smacks of efforts to browbeat, intimidate and harass the media'” the party said in a statement.
The party also demanded that the FIRs against the scribes be withdrawn immediately.
